Int. J. Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage, Vol. 2, No.

4, 2006 335

Adopting Six Sigma in higher education: some issues

and challenges

S.L. Ho*
Multidiscipline Engineering Division,
School of Engineering,
Ngee Ann Polytechnic,
Singapore 599489,
Republic of Singapore
E-mail: hsl@np.edu.sg
*Corresponding author.

M. Xie and T.N. Goh

Industrial and Systems Engineering Department,
National University of Singapore,
Singapore 119260,
Republic of Singapore
E-mail: mxie@nus.edu.sg E-mail: isegohtn@nus.edu.sg

Abstract: This exploratory paper attempts to study the feasibility of applying

the Six Sigma framework in higher education. Some fundamental issues and
challenges in designing an effective Six Sigma training programme, integrating
Define-Measure-Analysis-Improve-Control (DMAIC) methodology and
statistical quality engineering education into existing curriculum and the
potential applications of six sigma for educational excellence are discussed.
Some strategic relevance among Six Sigma, education, Sun Tzu’s art of war
thinking and Da Vinci’s principles exist; and these provide useful strategic
insights. From a systems perspective and depending on the context, adopting
the Six Sigma framework in higher education is feasible. Understanding the
DMAIC methodology and education in statistical quality engineering are
important for Six Sigma project success. Using the operational amplifier circuit
analysis drawn from the electrical engineering course as an illustration, it is
demonstrated that the Six Sigma framework provides an excellent platform for
infusing statistical education into the engineering curriculum.

Keywords: art of war; Define-Measure-Analysis-Improve-Control (DMAIC);

education; Six Sigma; statistical quality engineering; variation.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Ho, S.L., Xie, M. and
Goh, T.N. (2006) ‘Adopting Six Sigma in higher education: some issues and
challenges’, Int. J. Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage, Vol. 2, No. 4,
pp.335–352.

Biographical notes: S.L. Ho is an Academic Staff and Course Manager in the

School of Engineering, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore. He received his PhD
in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the National University of
Singapore, where he also obtained his BE (Honours), MSc in Electrical
Engineering and MSc in Industrial and Systems Engineering. Dr. Ho is a
Certified Reliability Engineer of the American Society of Quality and is listed

Copyright © 2006 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

336 S.L. Ho, M. Xie and T.N. Goh

in Marquis Who’s Who in Science and Engineering. His research interests

include Six Sigma, quality and reliability engineering, time series forecasting,
neural network computing and modelling techniques. Dr. Ho has published
papers and shared his work in international conferences and journals including
the Int. J. Flexible Manufacturing Systems, Reliability Engineering & System
Safety, Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering, Computers and
Mathematics with Applications, Computers and Industrial Engineering,
Applied Soft Computing and IEEE Transactions on Electronic Packaging
Manufacturing.

Min Xie graduated from Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, and received
his MSc there. He later received his PhD in Quality Technology in 1987 from
Linkoping University. He has been active in teaching and research in statistical
analysis of quality and reliability problems. In 1991, he was awarded the
prestigious LKY Research Fellowship at National University of Singapore,
where he is currently a Professor at the Department of Industrial and Systems
Engineering. Professor Xie has published numerous papers and six books on
quality and reliability engineering. He serves on the editorial board of several
international journals, including Department Editor of IIE Transactions and
Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Reliability, and as the Chair or
Committee Member in many international conferences, including the Program
Chair at 2004 IEEE International Engineering Management Conference.
Professor Xie is an Elected Fellow of IEEE for his contribution in modelling
and analysis of systems and software reliability.

T.N. Goh holds a BE from the University of Saskatchewan and a PhD from the
University of Madison-Wisconsin. He is an Academician of the International
Academy for Quality, Fellow of the American Society for Quality, and the
recipient of the IEEE Engineering Management Society Educator of the Year
Award. Professor Goh is a Former Director of the Office of Quality
Management and a Former Dean of Engineering at the National University of
Singapore. Currently, he is a Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering,
the Director of Quality and Innovation Research Centre, and the Director of
Centre for Design Technology. Professor Goh serves on the editorial boards of
several international research journals in quality management and quality
engineering, and has authored or co-authored more than 150 technical papers
and four books in these fields.

1 Introduction

Several years ago, many of us were intrigued by the word Six Sigma and looked on in
fascination by the claims from Six Sigma proponents – aided by media hype, reports,
seminars and consultants’ advertisements, on how magical and powerful this
breakthrough strategy can be in helping organisations save billions of dollars. At that
time, very few would have heard about or knew what Critical-To-Quality (CTQ) and
Define-Measure-Analysis-Improve-Control (DMAIC) meant. Over the years, Six Sigma
has experienced tremendous growth and attained increasing popularity in the corporate
world. The DMAIC framework is an integrated representation of tools in a language that
management can understand, and this methodology has been successfully applied to a
wide variety of processes and operations. Today, Six Sigma is already a well-recognised
imperative for business success, performance excellence and a proven approach to
 Adopting Six Sigma in higher education 337

achieve competitive advantage. As the level of Six Sigma awareness has certainly been
raised, its fundamental concepts, principles, some essential tools and techniques
associated with Six Sigma are becoming better known in the various industries in
Singapore – both private and public sectors.
The Six Sigma improvement methodology has been widely touted as a revolutionary
strategy for achieving operational excellence in an organisation – due to its ability in
driving out variations in processes, leading to breakthroughs in profitability through
quantum gains in quality and customer satisfaction (Harry and Schroeder, 2000). The Six
Sigma approach entails the use of statistical thinking and emphasises on statistical tools
and techniques. Several authors (Henderson and Evans, 2000; Antony and Banuelas,
2002a) have studied the critical success factors for Six Sigma project implementation.
From a separate pilot survey, Antony and Banuelas (2002b) further illustrated the key
ingredients essential for Six Sigma success in UK manufacturing and service
organisations. It was reported that ‘understanding Six Sigma methodology, tools and
techniques’ is the second most importance factor in addition to ‘management
commitment and involvement’.
In recent years, we have seen and heard the mushroomed effect of Six Sigma
phenomenon and widespread claims about the power of Six Sigma in manufacturing, Six
Sigma in service and transactional businesses, best practices of Six Sigma in virtually any
field. However, despite the exponential growth of Six Sigma resources, current literatures
on the influence of Six Sigma in the field of education are few and far between, apart
from some recent discussions in Flynn (2003), Bryce (2004), Hoerl (2004) and Johnson
et al. (2006). This is not surprising because, unlike the manufacturing processes that have
repeatable and measurable CTQ, educational processes are more complex with multiple
CTQs and various interacting components.
It would be difficult to compute or justify a meaningful sigma for CTQ such as ‘the
students’ average exam marks for a particular module must be at least 85% for three
consecutive semesters’, or ‘the annual proportion of submitted research papers accepted
for publications in journals’. In addition, it is not practical to use sigma to measure the
quality of an instructional process, evaluate its capability and calibrate teaching
performance. For example, it would be meaningless to quantify a lecturer as a ‘5 sigma
teacher’ for the 2-hour lecture he/she delivers weekly throughout the semester.
Furthermore, in a research and development environment in higher education, the fact
that Six Sigma stresses on conformity and less error-prone processes means that it will
stifle innovation and creativity, thus limiting breakthroughs in performance. Expressing
the level of performance and its improvement via some definitive metric would fail to
make sense in a knowledge-based organisation such as a university. Several other reasons
are cited in Goh (2002).
Education in Six Sigma methodology and statistical quality engineering is important.
Voelkel (2002) perceived that education in statistical methods would make employees
more valuable to Six Sigma organisations. Maleyeff and Kaminsky (2002) highlighted
the need to teach process thinking and statistical education. As pointed out by Paton
(2002), ‘… Universities must ensure that any new content or innovation in an engineering
discipline will be seen or heard first in the education delivered by the universities…’. The
impact of Six Sigma on business administration curriculum is clearly evident in a guest
editorial by Flynn (2003) where Six Sigma has generated considerable interest among
business students. They got motivated about Six Sigma and started choosing electives
they probably would not consider in the past. Mitra (2004) reiterated the critical role that
338 S.L. Ho, M. Xie and T.N. Goh

academia play in ensuring that sound statistical education be an integral component of the
curriculum. It is also the responsibility of academicians to bridge the gap between the
theory and practice of Six Sigma (Antony, 2004). More recently, Montgomery, Burdick
and Lawson (2005) discussed the importance of exposing students to Six Sigma in their
university learning journey. Anderson, Patterson and Hoerl (2005) provided further
insights into how a Six Sigma course has been integrated into the graduate statistics
curriculum.
The objectives of this paper are twofold: First, to shed some light into the viability of
implementing Six Sigma in academic institutions. In the context of educational processes,
issues concerning Six Sigma adoption and interpretations, its linkages with creativity,
Quality Circles (QC) and stratagems are discussed. The focus of our discussion in this
paper is on higher education, i.e. polytechnics and universities. Second, the authors
attempt to demonstrate how the Six Sigma framework can provide an excellent platform
for infusing statistical education in the engineering curriculum. An example of
operational amplifier is presented to illustrate how the education of Six Sigma
methodology and statistical quality engineering can be integrated into the electrical
engineering course curriculum.

2 Interpreting Six Sigma in higher education

A good understanding of a student’s role in higher education is necessary. The general

perception of customers in academic institutions is students. However, by considering
student’s satisfaction as the primary objective does not help develop an effective
customer focus – an important component of Six Sigma. Without a well-defined CTQ,
quality efforts can easily be diffused. Students assume multiple roles in higher education.
Using the production analogy, they may be viewed as ‘raw material’ when they are first
admitted to their respective faculties. During the course of their study, they are the
‘product-in-process’. Upon graduation, they are the ‘finished product’. To be more
precise, they should be considered as ‘internal customers’. The ‘external customers’ are
the parents, stakeholders and industry at large. Figure 1 depicts a version of Suppliers-
Inputs-Process-Outputs-Customers (SIPOC) model, interpreted from an educational
perspective. There are complex interactions between interconnected processes.
Unlike manufacturing, the interpretations and terminologies of Six Sigma in education
will be different and fuzzy at times. For example:
1 Six Sigma can mean bringing a course under statistical management.
2 In Six Sigma context, students are viewed more as ‘customers’ than ‘products’ of the
education system.
3 When applying DMAIC to instructional processes, we are addressing problems with
multiple CTQs. The ‘grades’ of a module is only one of the many possible CTQs.
4 It is difficult to quantify knowledge.
5 In the learning process when students are the ‘customers’, the units of ‘products’ are
the knowledge gained by students.
 Adopting Six Sigma in higher education 339

6 Unable to calibrate teaching performance via a single metric due to complicated

interaction of various factors.
7 In the course delivery process by a lecturer, Defects-Per-Unit (DPU) can be the
number of mistakes/errors made per hour of classroom instruction.
8 For facilities and services, DPU can be the number of complaints per semester.

Figure 1 A version of ‘SIPOC’ model in educational context

3 Art of war and Six Sigma

One of the most famous military treatises to emerge from ancient China is that of Sun
Tzu’s art of war (Griffith, 1963). His work carved out in bamboo strips some 2,500 years
ago is truly unique and is the foundation of Eastern winning strategy. Although the rate of
change has accelerated in those two millennia that passed, the timeless wisdom of his
profound strategic rules have not changed.
Sun Tzu says, ‘if you know both the enemy and yourself, you will fight a hundred
battles without danger of defeat; if you are ignorant of the enemy but only know yourself,
your chances of winning and losing are equal; if you know neither the enemy nor
yourself, you will certainly be defeated in every battle’. In the business world, enemies
are the competitors. In the context of Six Sigma objectives, ‘enemy’ can be interpreted as
‘variation’ that creates the need for statistical thinking. In other words, understanding
variation through a combination of statistical thinking, statistical quality engineering,
appropriate use of the tools and techniques in an integrated manner via DMAIC and
340 S.L. Ho, M. Xie and T.N. Goh

together with raising one’s level of competency through training and education are the
keys to the success of Six Sigma.
Measuring and eliminating defects is the core of Six Sigma, and statistical quality
engineering is the improvement engine behind Six Sigma. When variation is reduced,
performance will improve, defects will decrease, cost will drop and this leads to
increased customer satisfaction. A more lucid account of variation can be found in
Bergman (2003), who describes variation as the driver of knowledge creation and
emphasises the importance of understanding variation in Six Sigma. Some parallels can
be drawn between Six Sigma, art of war and education from the roles and responsibilities
summarised in Table 1.
Table 1 A comparison between Six Sigma, art of war and education

Six Sigma Art of war Education

Six Sigma Champion: a business leader facilitating General Principal/Dean
implementation, leadership, deployment and
provides support.
Six Sigma Master Black Belt (MBB): a quality Commander (high Vice Principal/HOD/
leader ‘expert’ in techniques and project level) Vice Dean/Professor
implementation, provides training and coaching.
Six Sigma Black Belt (BB): the process Commander (low Associate Professor/
improvement Project Team Leader responsible for level) Senior Lecturer
project execution.
Six Sigma Green Belts (GB): Project Team Troops/Soldiers/ Lecturers/Instructors/
Members, fully-trained to work on projects. Cavalry Administrators

There are some similarities between Six Sigma and art of war thinking. First, ‘customers’
are central to both strategic directions. Six Sigma is customer-focused and it ties business
outputs directly to marketplace requirements. It is vital to know your customers well so
that desired CTQs can be established. The ‘marketplace’ is analogous to ‘battlefields’ in a
war scenario. The art of war deals with the concept of ‘oneness’ – a higher order goal in
Tao philosophy. Customers are actually ‘us’, i.e. ourselves. By the segmentation of
customers into ‘grounds’, we then apply ‘win-one win-all’ strategy to conquer all
segments. The corresponding interpretation in Six Sigma can be visualised as ‘gaining
grounds’, i.e. to conquer variations and achieve more successes in Six Sigma projects,
certainly not the case of ‘losing grounds’.

4 Integrating Six Sigma and statistical education in engineering

curriculum

In statistical quality engineering education, introducing the meaning of ‘variation’ in

statistical thinking using art of war illustrations will help explain generate students’
interest in Six Sigma. In a conventional engineering curriculum, statistical tools and
techniques such as Design of Experiments (DoEs), failure mode effect analysis, control
charts and reliability engineering are often taught as stand-alone packages in academic
institutions. Except for the students who major in industrial and systems engineering or
quality management engineering, these statistical methods are only offered as elective
modules for other engineering disciplines such as electrical or mechanical. Therefore,
 Adopting Six Sigma in higher education 341

electrical and meachanical engineers involved in Six Sigma projects very often picked up
the knowledge through ad hoc Six Sigma seminars, training on demand or black belt
certification. Very often, engineers engaging in Six Sigma projects found that one-off
application of each statistical tool itself did not make improvements. These techniques
must be properly sequenced and integrated in a disciplined fashion to be effective.
Statistical tools should be combined with subject matter knowledge in an iterative fashion
of generating, testing and revising hypotheses, hence the importance of statistical
education during their undergraduate days in schools. Another challenge in statistical
education will be how to develop higher-order thinking skills in engineering students –
blending statistical quality engineering with creative and critical thinking into relevant
modules of the engineering curriculum. As emphasised by Snee (2004), Six Sigma is a
strategy and methodology for deploying statistical thinking and methods in an
organisation. The following example illustrates how this can be done in an educational
context.
Electrical and electronics engineering students studying analogue electronics will
need to learn the concept of operational amplifier (op-amp) depicted in Figure 2. This
would be a wonderful opportunity where some aspects of DMAIC methodology, as well
as Six Sigma problem-solving tools and statistical methods, will be introduced to the
students as they perform the circuit analysis. The role of Six Sigma in reducing variation
and the DMAIC phases of sigma projects are succinctly described. Statistical thinking is
the common thread through these phases. Students are then presented with this op-amp
circuitry.

Figure 2 Circuit analysis of an operational amplifier

In the ‘Define’ phase, they will be asked to think critically whether this is the desired
CTQ. How important are the other quality characteristics like output current or the offset
voltage? Suppose the desired customer requirement is the output voltage given by
342 S.L. Ho, M. Xie and T.N. Goh

Vo = f (Vin, R1, R2, R3), with no more than 1% tolerance. The output voltage is a function
of the circuit parameters. In DoEs: Vo is the ‘response’, whereas {Vin, R1, R2, R3} are the
control factors. As Six Sigma is customer-focused, it is necessary to evaluate the bottom-
line effect of the quality problem. What is the intended application/users in the higher-
level functional block diagram? For example, functionality of this op-amp is extremely
vital for military applications and will cause the transmitter module in the radar to fail, if
it malfunctions. Then, what will be the impact to current production and shipment? How
many radar sets in the field will warrant recall?
In the ‘Measure’ phase, the quality of measured data and Measurement System
Analysis (MSA) are explained. In the laboratory, students already know that voltmeters
are used to measure voltage signals. But how much variation is caused by the measuring
device? Guidelines for evaluating gauge repeatability and reproducibility (Gauge R&R)
are needed to determine whether the measuring instrument is acceptable. At this stage,
the concept of variation and statistical thinking model (Box, Hunter and Hunter, 2005)
can be introduced. The importance of statistics in the ‘Analyse’ phase of Six Sigma is
emphasised. There are variations in the resistances of R1, R2, R3 due to different
percentage tolerances, and this is one of the possible cause of variation termed as unit-to-
unit variation in robust design. The other one could be due to the external variation
contributed by transistors that are temperature-sensitive. The performance of the op-amp
as measured by Vo will vary due to these noise factors. A follow-up discussion on the
concepts of loss function, robust design and Taguchi philosophy will be appropriate at
this juncture.
Next, some essential statistical analysis methods such as inferential statistics and
confidence intervals will be highlighted. Different batches of the resistors from the
manufacturing process can lead to significant variability, thus affecting the output
voltage. In comparing simulated sample data drawn from two batches of R3, for instance,
hypothesis testing using t-statistics can be taught to analyse whether the components
come from the same population. The lecturers will teach the students how to interpret
p-values (significant probabilities) from the results in MINITAB. As a further extension,
the understanding of F-statistics and Analysis Of Variance (ANOVA) will also be taught
when multiple populations are involved.
Under nominal conditions, Vin = 18 V, VZ = 5 V, C1 = 50 PF, R2 = 5 k:, R3 = 10 k:.
The objective is to find the output voltage Vo, given various input values. Assuming an
ideal operational amplifier: V+ = V; and IB+ = IB = 0 A. In deriving deterministic
solutions for this electrical circuitry: VZ = V+ = V = V1. Using the voltage divider rule,
Vo = [(R2 + R3)/R3]Vz = 7.5 V. Alternatively, constructing the listed steps outlined in
Table 2 can help students develop critical thinking skills, in order to understand the core
fundamentals of electrical circuits principles.
Statistical quality engineering constitutes the backbone of the ‘Improve’ phase of
DMAIC. To reach Six Sigma performance in design and manufacturing, DoE has proven
to be one of the most effective statistical technique. It is a systematic method for
determining the effects of factors (e.g. which resistors R1, R2, R3 will influence the output
voltage most significantly?) and their possible interactions in a product (e.g. op-amp) or
process towards achieving a desired response (e.g. Vo). Students will be taught that
‘improvement’ is always the impetus for DoE applications and, in most Six Sigma
projects, DoE techniques are necessary to effect ‘changes’ that lead to process/product
improvement. The 2k factorial and 2kp fractional factorial designs will be demonstrated
 Adopting Six Sigma in higher education 343

to students. The optimal combination of levels (e.g. resistance values) of the factors can
be determined after analysing the data from a simulated 23 factorial experimental design.
Table 2 Analysing the operational amplifier

Steps
Vo is the CTQ. VZ = V+, V+ = V, V = V1
Assume VWIRE = 0 V, Op-amp assumption (hypothesis)
Analysis V1 = VZ = 5 V
Kirchoff’s current law KCL (subject matter theory) I R2 = I1 + I R3 , IB = I1

Op-amp assumption (hypothesis) IB = 0 A

Analysis I1 = 0 A, I R2 = I R3

Ohm’s law (scientific theory) I R3 = VR3 /R3

Assume VWIRE = 0 V (hypothesis) VR3 = V1

Analysis I R3 = 5 V/10 kŸ = 0.5 mA

Analysis I R2 = 0.5 mA

Ohm’s law (scientific theory) VR2 = I R2 u R2

Analysis VR2 = 0.5 mA u 5 kŸ = 2.5 V

Generate solution via Kirchoff’s voltage law KVL Vo = VR2 + VR3 = 2.5 V + 5 V = 7.5 V
(subject matter theory) Ÿ product knowledge increases
Further analysis via alternative method using past IB = 0 A, I R2 = I R3 , then: Vo = I R2
assumptions and Ohm’s law (scientific theory) to
(R2 + R3) = 7.5 V
generate identical solution Ÿ develop critical thinking
skills

In the ‘Control’ phase, students learn that control charts are set up to monitor the process
/ product performance variation (e.g. fluctuation of Vo) and looking out for assignable
causes of variation, in the presence of common cause variation. In this case, the variable
X-bar-range chart can be applied. Another useful tool is Failure Mode Effects Analysis
(FMEA). The objective is to identify potential failure modes, (e.g. under what conditions
the op-amp fails or performance degrades), the severity of the failure (D), the rate of
occurrence (E), detectability (J) and identifying the potential causes of failures. Risk
Priority Number (RPN) will subsequently be computed. The idea of RPN is to focus
improvement efforts on the failures that have the biggest impact on customers. The
highest scoring failure modes are those that happen frequently, that are bad when they
happen and/or that are unlikely to be detected. The RPNs within a portfolio of risks can
help analysts prioritise actions and reduce the risk to the desired level cost-effectively. As
an illustration, a hypothetical FMEA for resistor R2 is shown in Table 3.
344 S.L. Ho, M. Xie and T.N. Goh

Table 3 An example of FMEA for resistor R2

Component Failure mode Effects Causes D E J RPN

R2 Open No output voltage. Vo Ÿ 0 volt … 7 6 7 294
Shorted Vo Ÿ 10 V, current drawn is … 9 6 7 378
higher than nominal. Power
dissipated is also higher. This
might damage the load.
Drift in Vo reduces by 5% Ÿ still … 4 9 6 216
resistance unable to meet desired CTQ;
(by 40%) despite power dissipation and
current drawn lower than
nominal

5 Discussion

5.1 Fundamental challenges of embedding Six Sigma in education sector

Facing the ever-increasing importance of ‘quality in education’, particularly in higher
education, where the products/output of the system can have a direct impact on the
quality of the employer organisations, Six Sigma is deemed a viable strategy as it is a
specific, measurable and well-defined methodology. As increased accountability and
external demands for ‘high quality’ results become more prevalent, educators are always
seeking new approaches and quality frameworks in their quest for continuous
improvement. Six Sigma is not designed to be a holistic quality system, unlike Total
Quality Management (TQM) implementations that can become all-encompassing and
virtually difficult to evaluate and manage. Related literatures on applying TQM in higher
education can be found in Bolton (1995) and Sahney, Banwet and Karunes (2004), with
discussions that lead to a comprehensive conceptualisation. The first wave of Six Sigma
movement in higher education within universities in many parts of the world only started
in recent years. Universities are beginning to add some form of Six Sigma introductory
courses in their curriculum (Flynn, 2003; Bryce, 2004; Anderson, Patterson and Hoerl,
2005). From a small-scale dissemination of Six Sigma knowledge through seminars to an
increasing number of ‘larger scale’ partnerships establishment where successful
completion of Six Sigma black belt, green belt and yellow belt certification by qualified
Six Sigma lead instructors leads to college/university credits granted from accredited
universities – with different credit hours depending on the intensity of the training
programmes. The majority of these courses originated from business schools and others
are from engineering and applied science faculties (Montgomery, Burdick and Lawson,
2005). We see a rapid increase in the development of online Six Sigma training courses,
web-based e-learning with interactive simulations that serve as an effective virtual
classroom for building Six Sigma fundamentals and awareness. There is further evidence
in the stepping up of efforts in Six Sigma movement from a report in The Wall Street
Journal. Seeing the many similarities between what principals do and what business
managers do, Mr Jack Welch’s of General Electric was invited to spearhead an advisory
board for a leadership academy, an institute designed to not only review the performance
of the New York City public school system but also to teach the school principals.
 Adopting Six Sigma in higher education 345

Here at home in Singapore, an elective module on ‘Six Sigma Methodology (SSM)’

had been designed in the curriculum of the Master of Science degree programme in
Industrial and Systems Engineering at the National University of Singapore. Similarly in
Ngee Ann Polytechnic, a module on ‘Six Sigma Philosophies (SSP)’ had been developed
for three programmes, i.e. the Advanced Diploma in Industrial Engineering and
Management, Diploma in Quality Management and Engineering and Diploma in Logistic
Management. It would be wise and certainly beneficial to selected students undergoing
6-month industrial attachment to engage in Six Sigma projects in the industry to gain
first-hand exposure in DMAIC methodology and also appreciating the values of Six
Sigma tools and statistical techniques in solving real-world problems. Perhaps, the
possibility of ‘Diploma Plus’ can be explored. It is also contemplated that students who
passed SSP module with at least a B+ grade be awarded internally with an additional
‘Yellow belt Six Sigma’ certificate, which aims to provide some added value to students
who excel in this module and enable them to be identified by industries as potential
‘Green belt’ or ‘Black belt’ Six Sigma practitioners. This will definitely stand our
graduates in good stead later when they join the workforce in industry.
It would seem logical to refine the curriculum in higher education to introduce Six
Sigma concepts as these graduates face challenging real-life problems and projects where
Six Sigma tools and techniques might come in handy. A further thought upstream along
the education journey would lead to the question of ‘How about schools, junior colleges
and vocational institutions?’ Would not it be inappropriate and too early to introduce Six
Sigma to high schools and colleges? For the teenagers in secondary schools, probably
only a handful will understand the peripheral of Six Sigma. Hence, dissemination of the
basic concept of DMAIC, the core principles of quality improvement techniques and the
seven Quality Control (QC) problem-solving tools would suffice. It is more important to
inculcate a quality mindset and elementary process thinking skills to secondary schools’
pupils. It is proposed that designing a 40-hour Applied Elective Module (AEM) on ‘Six
Sigma problem-solving methodology’ will serve this need for secondary 4/5 students
who intend to pursue a polytechnic education. Successful completion of this AEM will
earn them credit units/module exemption if they wish to enrol in diploma courses related
to quality management and engineering and logistic management.
While imparting Six Sigma knowledge to students, it is also strongly recommended
that Six Sigma concepts and statistical thinking skills be introduced to educators and
teachers. To support the main thrust of the Ministry of Education (MoE) focus on
‘innovation and enterprise’, educators still hold the key to the successful nurturing of the
students. Apart from attending training and development courses, the option of industrial
attachment programmes might open up an unique opportunity for educators to participate
in Six Sigma projects with industrial practitioners to gain some valuable experience and
keep abreast with latest development in Six Sigma technology. For polytechnic lecturers,
this is made possible via the ‘Back-To-Industry’ (BTI) scheme. In this way, profound
knowledge will be gained via experiential learning, which in turn can be transmitted to
our students.
With the increase in awareness of the statistical methods used in Six Sigma projects
in the DMAIC methodology – coupled with infusing Six Sigma knowledge in the
existing engineering curriculum, it becomes clear that the next challenge will be on
designing an effective training programme for Six Sigma, as well as educating students in
a Six Sigma class how these tools and techniques can be effectively learned,
appropriately integrated in their Six Sigma projects as applied in various contexts such as
346 S.L. Ho, M. Xie and T.N. Goh

service industry and manufacturing processes. More details will be covered in

Section 5.4.

5.2 Potential applications of Six Sigma in academic institutions

As part of Singapore’s ‘Public Service for the 21st Century’ (PS21) effort, the Managing
For Excellence (MFE) Directorate from the Ministry of Finance (MoF) launched the Six
Sigma programme where all public agencies are encouraged to pilot the use of Six Sigma
with 50% co-funding for training, consultancy and software costs. Few years ago, the
government announced that all ministries would have their budgets cut by 2% in the
following financial year due to heavy spending on the help packages for the SARS
outbreak and the economy downturn. In fact, budgets cut and downsizing are just as
much an issue in academic institutions worldwide as they are in business corporations.
Akin to our education system, that was indeed an opportune moment to leverage Six
Sigma to bring about more efficiency in the operational processes. In the light of other
measures taken by the government to reduce costs in the public agencies (e.g. the ‘cut
waste panel’ and the ‘Economy Drive – ED’), in addition to gathering feedback / ideas on
how to save funds, an integrated approach combining Six Sigma methodology with lean
principles can be an effective way to complement and drive the ED efforts, thus reducing
waste and minimising process variation. In the context of education, some transactional
Six Sigma projects such as cycle time reduction, minimising invoice errors and reducing
response time for customer service excellence will be suitable for the service support and
administrative processes in human resource, facilities and finance. Other potential
candidates for Six Sigma projects can come from areas concerning ‘red tape cut’,
improving service quality, optimising data management and information flow and
reducing students attrition rate.
The Work Improvement Teams (WITs), also known as QC or Innovation and Quality
Circles (IQC), are small groups of workers who meet regularly to identify problems,
analyse and brainstorming for solutions using Shewhart’s Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA)
cycles of continuous improvement. Table 4 shows the differences between Six Sigma and
QC. Examining some of the existing WITs projects will reveal that the project scope and
problems encountered are huge enough, which cannot be handled by the traditional
PDCA approach. In fact, it is possible that these QC can be turned into sigma circles.
Sigma circles can be viewed as subsets of a Six Sigma project team, adopting DMAIC
approach with some level of statistical analysis that distinguish them from QC. The Six
Sigma approach can offer improved solutions and achieve a higher level of operational
performance. From a Singapore perspective, riding on the success and proliferation of
WITs in both public sectors and in industry, the formation of sigma circles in the
educational context could be a possibility. The concept of sigma circles can complement
WITs to help kick-start the Six Sigma movement for educational excellence in academic
institutions. However, it should be cautioned and recognised that WITs are still
indispensable, and even the realisation of sigma circles in future can never replace them.
 Adopting Six Sigma in higher education 347

Table 4 Differences between Six Sigma and work improvement teams

Six Sigma Work improvement teams

Top-down approach from CEO
Project members are formed by Master black belt/
champion. Uses the DMAIC framework for process
improvement, with focus on minimising variation.
An intensive data and information-driven approach.
Statistical methods for data analysis are necessary.
Hence, more elaborate training is needed for
certification of belts with different levels of
competence.
Six Sigma projects are more strategic to the
organisation. Projects that are customer-focused and
have wider scope of applications. The outcomes of
projects are usually expressed in financial terms.
Bottom-up approach from the ground.
Involvement is usually voluntary, lead by
WITs facilitator. Uses PDCA cycle for
problem solving.
Basic 7 quality control tools are generally
sufficient for data analysis. Less-intensive
training is required.
Projects are generally less complex and
relate to day-to-day running of the
organisation. Team members choose work
process problems. Outcomes of projects are
less sensitive to requirements for customer
satisfaction.

At the present moment, we have no verified case studies that demonstrate the tangible
benefits and cost savings attributed to Six Sigma projects applied in an educational
context. On the other hand, there is no doubt that the Six Sigma framework will still fit in
very nicely for the service support and transactional processes in the academic
institutions, just like any other organisations. Applying Six Sigma approach in problem
solving will inculcate statistical thinking and the importance of reducing process
variation. The Six Sigma strategy can exert a paradigm shift in the work culture and
mindset of employees, and influencing the ways they approach problems in their work.
Adopting the DMAIC methodology and integrating appropriate Six Sigma tools and
techniques, deficiencies in the operational processes can be systematically assessed and
improved upon.

5.3 Six Sigma for educational excellence

In Singapore, world-class organisations are recognised by the Singapore Quality Award
(SQA) – which represents a symbol of excellence. In the journey towards SQA, how can
Six Sigma be used as a strategy in the education sector? What are the driving forces for
the impact of Six Sigma for educational excellence? The Six Sigma methodology can
serve as a platform/foundation for creating opportunities for improved or even
breakthrough performance in educational processes. For example, the School Excellence
Model (SEM), which is an appraisal quality model based on the SQA framework, has
been developed to drive schools towards the achievement of the desired outcomes in
providing a holistic education for students. Schools that carve out its niche of excellence
will be recognised with the School Excellence Award (SEA). The SEM is a tool for self-
assessment, and the model provides a systemic framework to examine the existing
practices. It is structured to emphasise holistic education and the ability-driven thrust in
the design and delivery of education. The Six Sigma methodology can help to support the
SEM framework when this instrument is used to analyse critical processes that influence
education outcomes. Six Sigma is one of the many means to improve the scores in both
the ‘enablers’ and ‘results’ criteria of the SEM.
348 S.L. Ho, M. Xie and T.N. Goh

The Singapore Quality Class (SQC) and the SEA serve as key milestones in the SQA
journey. The SQA framework is based on the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
and the European Quality Award. Its criteria provide a clearly workable path that any
organisation can take to achieve excellence. In the quest for continuous quality
improvement and unsurpassed educational excellence, Six Sigma is seen as one of the
strategic thrusts in the SQA journey. While the SQA provides the overarching framework
and ultimate objective for sound quality management, Six Sigma together with the ISO
9000 standards will focus on the processes – with ISO standards providing the
refinements within standard operating procedures. Implementing Six Sigma partially
fulfils many of the elements and key areas in ISO 9000. The DMAIC data-driven
methodology and the Six Sigma tools for variation reduction will provide the control for
achieving breakthrough quality improvement. Ngee Ann Polytechnic was already
certified to ISO 9000 and SQC. For educational institutions aiming to embark on a
journey towards the SQA, both the SQC and SEA serve as key milestones in the entire
roadmap.

5.4 Designing an effective education programme for assimilating DMAIC

methodology
In a classroom environment, teaching statistical techniques in Six Sigma to students with
little statistical background is never an easy task. Although students understand that DoE
plays a significant role in identifying the ‘vital few’ (critical parameters) among the
‘trivial many’ and how critical this technique is to bring about ‘changes in performance’
during the ‘Improve’ phase of DMAIC, but how could experimental design techniques be
learned effectively by students or non-statisticians embarking on Six Sigma improvement
projects (e.g. managers and engineers in industry)? This is where simple teaching aids
such as the paper helicopter or the ‘catapult’ can be very useful. The catapult is a device
for launching a small projectile, such as ball, towards a targeted impact site. These
catapults can be used to demonstrate statistical methods simply and effortlessly.
Similarly in the ‘Measure’ phase of DMAIC, MSA is becoming increasingly
important in the management of developing hardware and designing products. The push
for Six Sigma quality has led to significant strides in identifying and controlling key
process parameters while placing more emphasis in testing the capabilities of the
measurement system. This is because one of the primary sources of special-cause
variation of the data generated from the process comes from the measurement gauge. If
the measurement system is not accurately assessed, then the data derived by the gauge
may be misdirecting the improvement efforts and driving changes, which will have no
effect on product quality. Hence, it is essential that gauge capability needs to be assessed
critically before embarking on any form of process and design improvement. The
approaches used to assess measurement system capability are ANOVA and Gauge R&R.
How can we effectively explain these concepts to students in the classroom?
The series of activities in the catapult project serves as an ideal vehicle through which
students can learn and apply the theory in practice. Students also learn how variability
can be systematically reduced and experienced first hand and how process dynamics are
reflected in control charts and process capability analysis. A designed experiment using
catapults can be used to investigate the components of variability in a measurement
system. Taking measurements using different sets of catapults (to simulate the parts) with
different students (to simulate the operators) allows the concepts of gauge R&R, fixed
 Adopting Six Sigma in higher education 349

effects model, random effects model and mixed effects model to be illustrated easily. It is
also possible to construct a X-Bar/Range Chart for the projectile distance (with control
limits) to determine whether the process is under control.
Students acquire personal examples of sources of variation, the approaches to reduce
or eliminate variation and also a deeper retention of the process analysis skills. This
teaching aid has proven to be very effective in demonstrating the 2k factorial designs in
DoE for product/process characterisation. The objective of the experiments is to identify
the critical variables (factors) that will maximise the distance travelled by the projectile
(response). Using ANOVA and F-tests, significant factors effects can be found.
Furthermore, the optimal combination of levels for the factors can be determined. This
innovative and experiential learning of DoE, MSA, as well as other Six Sigma techniques
via the ‘catapult’ in the classroom environment, are effective, enhances students’
learning, stimulates their interest in a wide range of related Six Sigma topics and, more
importantly, can generate ‘fun’.

5.5 Six Sigma and stratagems

Six Sigma provides a framework for integrating strategies. As soon as students from
higher education graduate and enter into the workforce, they will be dealing with
challenging real-life scenarios, complex business projects or some dynamic operational
problems. Instead of the conventional mathematical modelling and multiple regression
techniques that are taught in class, very often the desired outcome may have to be
envisaged differently such as: Y = f (variables x1, x2, …, xi) + f (stratagems h1, h2, …, hj).
The success of any Six Sigma projects could well hinge on applying relevant strategies
from learning experiences or via some gems of ancient strategic thinking in the East and
West; in addition to applying principles, theories and scientific knowledge when going
through the phased DMAIC approach. This fine art of stratagems may be that few
‘masterstrokes’ which captures the essence of the scene in creating Zen paintings, i.e. the
make or break of Six Sigma projects.
In our earlier discussion, the authors present some preliminary insights of Sun Tzu’s
art of war and a brief comparison with Six Sigma. Art of war can provide the
fundamental principles for contemporary strategic thought (i.e. doing the right thing –
e.g. selecting the right Six Sigma project) and serves as a fertile source of ideas for tactics
(i.e. doing things right – e.g. appropriate use of statistical quality engineering in DMAIC
for Six Sigma project success). In Six Sigma, quality professionals wear the hat of a
customer advocate. In strategic Six Sigma, their role is to synergise and align quality
improvement initiatives with customer inputs and feedbacks, bringing cohesion to the
quality process. On one hand, using Six Sigma as the catalyst, there is this continuous
quest for pursuing zero defects from ‘production’. On the other hand, from the
‘marketing’ perspective that is customer-oriented, there is this customer delight and the
need for obtaining relevant customer information.
Accordingly to Sun Tzu’s opening statement of his work, ‘War is of vital importance
to the state, is a matter of life and death to its people, survival or ruin to the country. It is
imperative that it be thoroughly studied’. This enunciates the importance of prudence and
good planning. In adopting Six Sigma in higher educational institutions, this means that
careful assessment is a must. In the context of the organisation’s goals, mission and, in
order to avoid wasted effort, a balanced and wider systems perspective in potential
project evaluation will be useful before the faculties decide whether to embark on the Six
350 S.L. Ho, M. Xie and T.N. Goh

Sigma journey. From a macro view of strategic goals and objectives (e.g. creating an
innovation and quality-driven organisation, an effective teaching and vibrant learning
environment, a world class research and cutting-edge development), current process
performance assessment can be measured using some key process indicators (e.g.
students dismissal rate, percentage of student clear passes or students’ satisfaction rate
based on ‘students’ evaluation on teaching’ feedback forms). This is followed by gap
analysis, before institutionalising an integrated continuous improvement strategy such as
using the Six Sigma approach.
The power of art of war lies in keen observation and thinking creatively by analogy.
In Sun Tzu, he expects the general to be highly creative in formulating strategies, …
using the ‘ordinary’ to engage enemy, but winning on the ‘extraordinary’, … be
limitlessly creative as a strategist. Similarly in Design-for-Six-Sigma (DFSS), the use of
TRIZ tools is a ‘left-brain’ approach for creating analogies. Applying the concepts of
TRIZ in a Six Sigma environment helps accelerate innovation. Besides learning from the
wisdom of Sun Tzu, Leonardo Da Vinci’s thinking is equally inspiring. For example, Da
Vinci’s first principle ‘Curiosita’ builds upon the desire to learn more and adopt a curious
approach in the relentless quest for knowledge. Relating this to the op-amp example,
‘Curiosita’ is at work here. For most students, memorising the voltage divider formula to
get the correct answers is the most important. As ‘Curiosita’ is linked to creative problem
solving, this principal encourages students to analyse the circuit with intense curiosity, as
well as with an open and critical mind; incessantly probing questions; constantly
exploring different approaches to obtain the same solution. Another similarity between
Da Vinci’s principles and Six Sigma can be found in Goh (2003). The characterisation of
Six Sigma using ‘5 W + 1 H’ is what ‘Curiosita’ is all about. Due to its statistical rigor,
the Six Sigma framework can be considered more ‘left-brained’. However, right-brained
thinking and tools are also relevant for creativity to flourish. Some Six Sigma projects
failed because of an over-emphasis on left-brain thinking. Six Sigma should not be
training by rote. In fact, a more ‘balanced-brain’ approach should be adopted to allow
creativity to flow into the heart of Six Sigma. In Da Vinci’s 5th principal ‘Arte/Scienza’:
he says, ‘Study the science of art and the art of science’. This essentially implies adopting
a ‘whole-brain’ thinking approach in problem solving.
A detailed exploration comparing and contrasting art of war and the strategic
relevance with Six Sigma is beyond the scope of this paper. In the pursuit of Six Sigma
performance, incorporating Eastern or Western philosophies add essential strategic
values, and could well provide more specific direction and thrust for achieving Six Sigma
success. If Sun Tzu’s wisdom or Da Vinci’s principles can complement or beef up the
existing Six Sigma methodology to bring the organisation to a higher level of operational
excellence, then this is certainly an interesting area worthy of further research.

6 Concluding remarks

Today, Six Sigma is no longer a hype and is already a recognised methodology well
understood and progressively being deployed throughout industries, albeit academic
institutions. The intricacy of adopting the Six Sigma model in the educational context is
an interesting area, rich in research and worthy of further exploration. However, one has
to understand the scope and the many facets of education, particularly the Six Sigma
pitfalls and misconceptions in education. Educational institutions play a vital role in
 Adopting Six Sigma in higher education 351

bridging the gap between Six Sigma theory and practice, as well as the assimilation of
DMAIC methodology. When examining the feasibility of applying Six Sigma concepts in
education, the aim is not to create a Six Sigma school. It is also meaningless to talk about
a Six Sigma lecturer. In fact, we should be advocating the Six Sigma problem-solving
methodology, as well as appreciating the usefulness, applicability and integration of Six
Sigma tools and techniques for tackling real-world problems.
Six Sigma is deemed a viable and effective strategy to increase the pace and scope of
quality improvement for educational excellence. Some of the key challenges we face will
be how to assimilate Six Sigma culture in the academia and synergise with other quality
management methodologies instead of co-existing with them; how to use Six Sigma
framework as a strategy in education; how to convince and motivate engineering or even
business schools to incorporate Six Sigma methodology and statistical quality
engineering education in their curricula.
Depending on the context, applying the Six Sigma framework in higher education is
feasible only if one adopts a systems perspective – with a macro architectural view of the
interconnected processes. Let us revisit the SIPOC model for education in Figure 1. The
Six Sigma DMAIC methodology fits in nicely for optimising transactional processes in
facilities support and services, as well as faculties. However, innovation and QC will still
be prevalent among non-academic staff, for its role in stabilising processes.
In the process of academic curriculum design, it is highly recommendable that the
knowledge of Six Sigma and statistical quality engineering be designed into the general
engineering and business course curriculum. Undergraduates can also embark on Six
Sigma projects together with black belts and green belts during their industrial
attachment. Furthermore, feedback should be gathered from industries, alumni, parents
and even competing academic institutions, in addition to obtaining information from
existing students, peers and advisory committee. Perhaps, one can use scenario planning
to forecast the relevance of current curriculum in the next 5 years, in response to the
emerging trends and new initiatives. Is Six Sigma still utopia then? This is a ‘predictive
design quality’ at work in DFSS.
On the other hand, talking Six Sigma would not be realistic when dealing with
complex knowledge flow processes concerning research, learning, knowledge transfer,
value-added, environment, innovation and creativity – this is indeed a multiple CTQ
optimisation problem that requires the DFSS approach. In-line with the knowledge-based
economy of the third millennium, the DFSS paradigm can help transform academic
institutions into leading ‘Six Sigma organisations’, producing knowledge graduates who
can integrate easily into the business world today and into the future.

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